Unlikely Heroes
4channers zerg-rush Kent with the intent to save civilians from Tumblr Armors, ending with some major revelations. This mission has the distinction of having the largest player count, to the point where the GM couldn't keep up with the player's actions for the first half. Unlikely Heroes is also the last in the trilogy of original missions. Teams Specter Team - Wanderer (Team Leader), Primal (Second in Command), Iroh, Duomo Siena, Mal, Synapse, Krieger, Thundercloud, Fireball, Mac, Kabuto, Fortress, Silver Knight Aegis Team - Freebird (Team Leader), LOIC, Enyo, Zipline, Iroh, Araneae, Double-headed Dragon, SaltedEarth, Eisenstein Talons Team - Archangel (Team Leader), Veritas, Algebra, IronEyes, Gothmog Summary Over the Cliffs Freebird works with "Command" to work out their plan of attack as they approach, settling to approach Ashford through Brighton, with the first stage of the plan being to capture Shorncliffe Army Camp from the Tumblr Armors and use it as a forward base for the rest of the operation. As the suits arrange themselves into teams and assign commanders, they also all ping the base at least 100 times with hawkeyes and radars to confirm that the base is in fact populated with enemy suits, largely mesh and light-class. M aking doubly sure that the base is indeed populated, Specter team leads the attack, with Talons team following a short time behind in support, taking the medium-class suits as priority while Specters handles the meshes. Aegis team holds back and waits to secure the base once the other two teams have cleared it out. The suits hit the enemies hard and quickly begin to overwhelm the base defenders. All your base Once the base defenders have been steamrolled, AC begins to send in dropships carrying APCs. Archangel resumes giving orders, deciding that Specter team will be defending the APCs as they round up civilians. Algebra launches a scrambler net over the city of Ashford as the AC suits begin to move in, escorting the APCs and collecting whomever they come across. The enemy mesh suits they come across seem to be searching in groups for something other than helpless civilians. Bravbyrd runs a sonar scan and, in addition to the good quality sonar map of the city, unexpectedly receives a communication from an individual identifying themselves as RROD353. RROD353 claims to be injured and is hiding from the Tumblr Armors searching for her in a nearby pub. Also, she's a Tumblr Armor herself. Bravebyrd relays this information to Archangel, who labels her as a VIP. Mac, filling in for Primal as Specter team leader, orders a member of his team to investigate. Synapse takes the role, easily making his way there stealthily. Archangel then orders everyone to lead the enemy mesh suits away from the pub, and requests that someone stealthy see if they can meet up with the wounded Tumblr and get them to an APC. Silver Knight somehow intercepts the message as well and responds to Archangel's orders by making a beeline directly for the pub. Mac adjusts his orders, telling the members of his team, Mal and Bearzerker in particular due to their proximity, to support Silver Knight instead and protect the APCs as they follow up to the pub. Pub Crawl Bearzerker expresses some disappointment about not being thrown into the fight directly, but Mac reassures him. Synapse encounters heavy resistance at the pub, and is currently alone aside from Krieger-Agent, who has only just arrived as well. Krieger immediately attempts to help Synapse out, despite being heavily outmatched. Umber also appears from nowhere and engages the heavies in melee. Archangel requests a smoke barrage from the Aegis team and attempt to lend support from above the city with their ion cannon. Freebird complies, launching smoke into the city. A follow up bombardment with artillery is requested, but there's a great deal of confusion about how and when it should be done, seeing as there's still a VIP to worry about. Veritas, who had fought his way ahead of the others, finishes his fight against an enemy mesh by throwing it off the edge of a building. Below him, he sees another mesh kick the door to the pub open, and hears the panicked voice of the VIP from inside. The AC members in the area suddenly remember their mission and attempt to abandon their fight against the two heavy suits, leading to Umber Lord taking severe damage. Screams are suddenly heard over communications, and Krieger, Primal and Wander make it to the inside the pub in time to catch a Tumblr mesh burning civilians. The mesh is quickly eliminated, but the civilians all seem to be dead, save for one woman, who appears to be a pilot, who is conveniently only near death. Various pilots attempt to use their healing hands to keep her alive long enough to get information out of her. The girl appears to begin to recover from her third-degree burns, but is still in shock. Silver Knight suddenly appears and grabs the girl, making a dramatic, mournful walk back to the APC. Synapse, considering himself lucky to have survived his close encounter with the two heavy suits, returns to base. Umber, seeing the pile of freshly burned civilian bodies in the pub, decides to hang around for a drink. Bearzerker, appearing to be the only one not consumed with worry for the VIP, remains as well, intending to continue to search the area for and civilians still alive, as was the original purpose of the mission. Critical Decision "Command" suggests that the pilots on hand interrogate the woman to find out what she knows. Silver Knight is naturally right on hand to giver her another touch of heals. The woman recovers and starts to give her story bit by bit to Silver, who allows everything she says to be relayed through comms to everyone present for the mission. The first thing she says is that searching for more civilians is a trap, leading to all the team leaders to immediately call off further searches. "Command" suddenly chimes in to all present, relaying that the girl is a high-grade saboteur and orders knocking her out immediately to minimize risk. The girl hears this and starts pleading, saying that Tumblr isn't people and that she knows what's really been going on with the whole war thing. Silver Knight, being a massive moralfag, hesitates, then refuses. Freebird orders him to bring the VIP to Aegis. Archangel attempts to play both sides by placating "Command" and then backing up Freebird's order to bring the VIP back. The other participants of the mission also voice their support of bringing the VIP back to Aegis instead, save for Synapse, who takes offense to her allegiance with Tumblr, and Bearzerker, who is outraged at the other pilot's refusal to follow orders and is no shit getting ready to kill her. Archangel points their weapons at Synapse and Bearzerker and warns them that the rest of the pilots will turn on them if Bearzerker kills the Tumblr. Primal jumps in front of Bearzerker and tries to talk him down as well. With so many guns pointed at him, Bearzerker simply walks away, stopping at the edge of the city, where he waits for everything to play out. Silver Knight continues to talk to the Tumblr, who continues to stall with her great reveal. "Command" becomes irate, warning that all participants will be declared defectors if they continue to speak. Duemo Siena suddenly shows up and joins with the other pilots. Seeing the debacle over a Tumblr Armor, she makes clear her intent to kill the VIP as well, but Silver Knight response to "Command" with a refusal to follow the knockout order and hear the Tumblr out instead, resulting in all members of Unlikely Heroes being listed as defectors. Duemo Siena curses Silver Knight in response. Wanderer, not thrilled about being labeled as traitors, orders Specter team to retreat. Other members leave as well, now no longer able to return to base due to their defector status, and not interested in staying alongside the actual traitors themselves. The mission ends with the Tumblr woman telling those that remained behind everything she knows about the situation, revealing the nature of the Tumblr Armors and the existance of the aliens controlling them. Category:PACYOA: TE Category:Mission Record